This invention relates to a spinning reel having a reverse rotation preventing mechanism.
A conventional spinning reel having a reversal rotation preventing mechanism is shown in FIGS. 1 thru 4. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a drive gear 4 is fixedly secured to a handle shaft 1 rotatable by a handle (not shown). The drive gear 4 is engaged with a pinion 2 connected to a rotor 3 to rotate same. The drive gear 4 integrally provides a ratchet gear 5 engageable with a ratchet pawl 7 pivotably mounted on a fishing reel body 6. One end of the ratchet pawl 7 normally engages the ratchet gear 5 by the biasing force of a spring 8.
Known is a switching means 9 which selectively controls the engagement between the ratchet gear and the ratchet pawl by a thumb lever 15 in order to permit the rotor 3 to rotate only in the fishing line rewinding direction to thus implement the anti-reversal function, or to permit the rotor to rotate in both rewinding and cocked directions. The switching means 9 includes a depressing portion 10 for urging the other end of the ratchet pawl 7, a position setting portion 12 for maintaining the above-mentioned engagement and disengagement between the ratchet gear 5 and the ratchet pawl 7, a shaft portion 14 rotatably supported by a bore 13 of the reel body 6 and the thumb lever 15.
The position setting portion 12 is in resilient contact with a free end of a U-shaped spring 11 whose other end is fixedly secured to the reel body 6 by a screw 23 (FIG. 4). The position setting portion is of generally cylindrical shape with two partially cut away flat surfaces adapted to be in surface engagement with the free end of the U-shaped spring 11 because of its urging force toward the portion 12. The surface engagement between the U-shaped spring with one of the flat surfaces of the position setting portion serves to maintain a first position of the depressing portion 10, while the surface engagement between the U-shaped spring 11 and the other flat surface serves to maintain the second position of the depressing portion, to thereby maintain engagement or disengagement of the ratchet pawl with the ratchet gear.
With this structure, the pivotal movement of the thumb lever 15 causes the depressing portion 10 to rotate about its axis to urge the other end of the ratchet pawl 7 against the biasing force of the spring 8, while the pivotal movement of the lever 15 is terminated and the lever is latched by the surface engagement between the U-shaped spring 11 and the position setting portion 12.
As best shown in FIG. 3, the depressing portion 10, the position setting portion 12 and the shaft portion 13 are integrally formed as a rod-like member 16, and the thumb lever 15 is separately provided. At outer end of the rod-like member a small diameter portion 18 is provided and is outwardly extended from the reel body 6 to provide a linking portion 17 adapted to be inserted into a corresponding cylindrical recess 19 formed in the thumb lever 15. The thumb lever 15 is further formed with a hole 20 in alignment with the cylindrical recess 19, and a screw 21 is inserted in the hole 20 and is threadingly engaged with a threaded hole 22 centrally formed in the shaft portion 14 to thus connect the rod-like member 16 to the thumb lever 15.
According to the conventional switching means 9, since the mass of the depressing portion 10 is large, the rod-like member 16 is inserted from the interior space of the reel body 6 into the cylindrical recess 19 of the thumb lever 15 during assembly. To be more specific, after the U-shaped spring 11 is secured to the reel body 6 by the screw 23, the rod-like member 16 is positioned in the reel body 6 and is inserted into the bore 13, so that the linking portion 17 is protruded therefrom to the outside of the reel body 6, to thus fit with the cylindrical recess 19 of the thumb lever 15. Thereafter, the thumb lever 15 is fixedly connected to the rod-like member 16 by the screw 21, so that the switching means 9 is supported on the reel body 6.
The above assembly work could be complicated and troublesome. Further, during assembly or disassembly, since the rod-like member 16 is attached or detached from the interior of the reel body, U-shaped spring 11, ratchet pawl 7 and the ratchet pawl spring 8 may be damaged, and furthermore, threading engagement between the screw 21 and the rod-like member 16 may be loosened or unfastened, to thereby deteriorate the fishing operation or lose the thumb lever 15. Moreover, since there are a lot of mechanical parts, production cost may be increased with complicated assembly work.